A number of conventional technologies can move thermal energy from one point to another. One conventional method of producing a cooling or warming effect is invoking an evaporation of a liquid at one location in a device, followed by a condensation of the corresponding vapor (i.e. the evaporated liquid) at another location in the device. The evaporation removes thermal energy from the liquid, while the condensation deposits the thermal energy at the point of condensation. The overall effect is the movement of heat from one location to another location in the device. The evaporation and condensation effect is a fundamental process for existing heating and cooling devices, such as absorption refrigerators, chillers, and some kinds of heat pumps.
Mechanisms of action that enable heating and cooling devices are varied. For example, desiccants can be utilized to absorb vapor from a volatile liquid in a reaction chamber, which lowers the pressure inside a reaction chamber and indirectly drives evaporation from a pool of volatile liquid. Alternatively, mechanical pumps can be utilized to pump vapor out of a reaction chamber and to compress the vapor in a second chamber. The removal of vapor in the reaction chamber reduces pressure and lowers the temperature of the remaining vapor, causing the liquid pool to boil. The compression of the vapor in the second chamber increases the temperature and enables the heat to be transferred out of the second chamber, while the vapor condenses to liquid. The cooled and condensed liquid then returns to the reaction chamber.
Many conventional heat transfer systems are “closed” systems, and the evaporated liquid is typically required to return to the location of evaporation to continue the cycle. In order to cycle the liquid from one point to another point, energy can either be exerted initially to mobilize the liquid at an initial stage, or exerted later to recycle the liquid after the initial thermal transfer is accomplished. For heat transfer devices that utilize desiccants to absorb vapor and to drive evaporation, energy is exerted to drive the liquid and the desiccant apart and also to return the liquid to the point of evaporation. Typically, heating is utilized as a method of the energy exertion in this process. The heat can come from solar energy, electrical heaters, fuel burning, or another source of heat generation.
On the other hand, for heat transfer devices that utilize heat pumps to drive the movement of heat, the heat pumps may be powered by electric motors, mechanical systems such as windmills or water wheels, or other devices designed to deliver motive force. For the heat transfer devices that utilize the heat pumps, the return of liquid to the evaporation point can be active (i.e. forced by a heat pump) or passive (i.e. no active usage of the heat pump). These conventional energy transfer devices are closed-loop systems that act as a net “energy sink,” thus requiring an external energy exertion.
In contrast, energy transfer systems that utilize environmental energy to drive the process of energy transfer can be viewed as “energy sources,” rather than as energy sinks. For example, a renewable energy transfer system, such as a solar-powered chiller or a solar-powered refrigerator, can transduce environmental radiant energy into electrical energy, which can be subsequently utilized to drive a pump.
Two significant issues facing our modern society are the availability of energy and the growing surplus of heat in our ecosystem. These two issues may be intertwined, and thus, a solution to one issue generally produces problems for the other issue. Nevertheless, because heat is a form of energy, the buildup of heat in our planetary system may represent an opportunity for efficient use of renewable energy sources. If a novel energy transfer system can utilize the growing surplus of heat in our planet's ecosystem to drive entropic transfers, it may be able to contribute to a potential blunting or reduction of carbon dioxide-induced rising global temperatures, while efficiently harnessing environmental energy to perform useful work.
Furthermore, if the novel energy transfer system can also utilize the fact that our planet's rotation generates entropic and thermal changes on a daily basis, the novel energy transfer system may also be able to transform environmental energy into a useful energy source with a minimal carbon emissions footprint. For example, during any given day, exposed planetary elements on Earth, such as land, water, and air, heat up. This daily planetary thermal change increases an entropic capacity of our planet to enable spontaneous entropic transfer. It should be noted that spontaneous entropic transfers already occur in nature in the form of natural water evaporation. At night, the natural cooling of Earth leads to a decrease in the entropic potential of our planet. As a result, entropy decreases through energy transfers out of the earth system. This leads to condensation, which can drive weather, dew formations, and moisture formations on Earth. Our planet's natural day-night cycles represent an energetic process, into which a novel energy transfer device can connect to yield environmentally-friendly energy with near-zero to no carbon dioxide emissions.
Because Earth's thermal transfers and entropic changes due to day-night cycles do not occur in a closed system, harnessing environmental thermal energy for the purposes of doing work does not violate the first or the second law of thermodynamics. Thus, accessing Earth's energy flux, which reverses its direction during its day-night cycles, for production of useful work in a novel energy transfer system is physically and theoretically sound, unlike a case of a closed system with a stagnant and static thermal energy pool. The cyclical and natural thermal transfers that occur in our planet daily provide an opportunity for the novel energy transfer system to “plug into” the planet's day-night thermal cycles to provide a useful work for human needs without necessitating fossil fuel burning.
Therefore, it may be desirable to provide a novel process for obtaining work from environmental thermal energy. Furthermore, it may be also desirable to provide a novel entrochemical energy transfer system that utilizes this novel process of obtaining work from the environmental thermal energy.